Joshua Chamberlain

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (8 September 1828-24 February 1914) was Governor of Maine (R) from 2 January 1867 to 4 January 1871, succeeding Samuel Cony and preceding Sidney Perham. Chamberlain was a famed Union general during the American Civil War, becoming a hero after leading the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.

War hero
Joshua Chamberlain was born in Brewer, Maine on 8 September 1828, and he attended Bowdoin College. He became a professor of rhetoric at his alma mater, and he supported the Union at the start of the American Civil War, encouraging his students to do so as well. Chamberlain, who believed that all willing to fight against the Confederate States of America should support the Union, decided to enlist in the US Army, and he became the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1862 under future Mississippi senator Adelbert Ames. In June 1863, after fighting at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, he was promoted to Colonel, as Ames was promoted. Chamberlain became a hero for his bravery at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, holding Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge, being injured in the foot during his brave stand. Chamberlain rose to become a brigadier commander of the Army of the Potomac in 1864, fighting at Petersbuurg, where he was wounded in the hip. Chamberlain famously saluted surrendering Confederate troops at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865, and he was known to be knightly, as John B. Gordon put it. During the war, Chamberlain had fought in 20 battles, was cited for bravery four times, lost six horses in battle, and was wounded six times.

Life after the war
In 1866, the popular Chamberlain was elected Governor of Maine as a member of the liberal Republican Party, but he refused to enforce the prohibition of alcohol. From 1871 to 1883, he was President of Bowdoin College, and he worked as a lawyer, surveyor, and real estate businessman for years. He died in 1914 in Portland, Maine at the age of 85 from complications from his Petersburg wound.